Early in 2019 the LORD led us to begin praying for our nation. Praying against the sin of abortion and praying for repentance. May of 2019 we went to the state capital in Phoenix for the first time to pray. We then committed to going there the first Monday of every month to prayer walk around the capital grounds and to pray for our state and the nation. When the COVID19 restrictions started we moved our focus to the local city/county complex here in Kingman, continuing to pray for our lawmakers and leaders in government.
Monday, October 5, 2020, was our 18th prayer walk. God opened our eyes to see many things that day.
There are several examples in the book of Jeremiah where God uses an ordinary object to teach a spiritual lesson. In Jeremiah 1:11 God says to Jeremiah, "What do you see?" Jeremiah happened to be looking at a branch of an almond tree. Jeremiah had probably seen many almond trees before this but today was different. God brought it to his attention and used it to reveal something to him. In chapter 18 God tells Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house and He would show him something there. This time God had him consider a clay pot being shaped on a potter's wheel. Another time God used a couple of baskets of figs to to illustrate His message. (Jeremiah 24)
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He still uses things in the natural world to speak to us. That is what happened to us on Monday, October 5th.
Four of us gathered at the city complex, 310 N. 4th Avenue. Scripture says that God orders our steps (Psalm 37:23). As we look back we can see how His timing was perfect, as usual.
Our usual pattern was to exchange a few words and then begin walking and praying. This time we talked, shared and prayed for 10-15 minutes before we started walking. As we reached the first corner we saw water rushing down the street toward us. A channel of water at least 1 1/2 feet wide was running along the curb as we stood on the sidewalk and watched.
We immediately recognized the significance of the water. Water cleanses. "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Ephesians 5:26 KJV. We all felt overwhelming joy as we pictured the release of a cleansing flood in response to our prayers. We experienced chills and goose bumps at the thought. We linked arms and danced. Anyone watching would have wondered what had gotten into us. We thought of the second chapter of Acts when the disciples received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They were accused of being under the influence of new wine. We were not under the influence of literal wine, but we were experiencing a move of the Spirit and we all felt it.
When we reached the next corner we saw the source of the water. A freshly washed, shiny red fire truck at the local fire station.
We continued walking, praying and praising. As we came around the back side of one of the buildings we saw a pair of shoes on the sidewalk. They were blue. A heavenly color signifying a holy walk. A few steps further on, in the dirt, we saw another pair of shoes. These were black, worn out and covered with dirt. Black, signifying death.
The words we heard where, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:53 KJV
Those words were even more profound as we realized that we are in the midst of the Feast of Tabernacles which is the feast that symbolizes the glorification of the saints, putting on immortality.
It was also interesting that the blue shoes were on the path (sidewalk) but the black ones were not. They were cast aside and partially covered in dirt. "Make me walk along the path of Your commands, for that is where my happiness is found." Psalms 119:35 NLT
As we turned on to Spring Street, Marie was led to look up scriptures related to the word spring. This is what she read to us:
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 KJV
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Isaiah 61:11 KJV
As we completed the walk, I looked at the city building where we had started our walk and the number that was boldly displayed on it was 310. And Revelation 3:10 came to mind.
"Because you have obeyed My command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.
We had been faithful to our promise to pray. We had persevered. And God blessed us by allowing us to see things that we had overlooked before.
I had thought about taking a video of the moving water after we finished our walk. At the time I had not realized that it was the result of the fire engine being washed. By the time we returned to that spot, the rushing water was gone. The only evidence left behind was the damp marking on the street and a slight trickle in the gutter.
We sat on a wall under a shade tree for a little while to consider all that we had seen. Then the Lord reminded us of a vision that Marie had been seeing. She had shared in our fellowship group that she had been shown what looked like a bulging membrane. Some type of pressure was pushing against it. When she saw it again, the membrane was getting thinner. We had determined some time ago that it represented a sack of amniotic fluid. We knew that we were getting close to a birth in the spiritual realm.
We realized then that the water we had seen at the start of our walk signified the birth. When a child is born, the membrane is ruptured, the waters gush out, and then it becomes a trickle. This was where God's perfect timing came in. If we had started our walk any sooner or any later we would have missed the message.
Finally, we glanced up at a pole on the sidewalk. There were two signs on it. One signified "No U-Turns" the other said "No Coasting Vehicles."
A vehicle is symbolic of a ministry. Too many ministries are just coasting along. It is time to move forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.
No U-turns means no going back. God is calling us forward.
That was not the end of what happened on October 5, 2020.
Dee, a member of our fellowship group who Skypes in from Tucson, had been impressed upon by the Lord to set aside October 5 as a day of prayer and fasting. She did not know why and had not realized that it coincided with our First Monday Prayer.
She was led to go to a certain location in her community to pray. As she shared with me she mentioned looking up at the trees and noticing the wind rustling the leaves in the treetops. There was no wind down where she and her husband were sitting. When she mentioned the wind in the treetops, two things came to mind.
A text that I had received earlier from a friend that said, "Are you hearing a sound in the wind?"
And second was the verse in 2 Samuel 5 that mentions the sound of the wind in the treetops.
I read 2 Samuel 5: 23-25 to Dee.
And again David asked the LORD what to do. "Do not attack them straight on," the LORD replied. "Instead, circle around behind and attack them near the poplar trees. When you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the poplar trees, be on the alert! That will be the signal that the LORD is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army." So David did what the LORD commanded, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. 2 Samuel 5:23-25 NLT
Dee said, Oh my! When she had driven to the location where she was going to pray, she missed the turn and had to go around. She circled around behind. Afterwards there was the wind in the treetops.
We believe that the Lord is moving ahead of us in a mighty way. He is moving the waters and those who don't step in will miss the blessing.
